Scattered: How A.D.D. Originates and What You Can Do - Hardcover

Mate, Gabor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525944125 ISBN 13: 9780525944126

Publisher: Dutton Adult, 1999

Synopsis

A family physician and sufferer of Attention Deficit Disorder explodes the conventional wisdom that A.D.D. is a genetically based disorder, declaring instead that it is a response to environmental conditions that fail to provide emotional or physical security. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

In one of the most comprehensive and accessible books about Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Mat?, a Canadian physician and popular medical columnist, challenges many accepted notions about the condition, which afflicts more than three million children and a significant number of adults. An ADD sufferer himself, and the father of three children battling the disorder, Mat? discusses its origins and development, drawing on four years of study, research and patient interviews. Since its discovery in North America in 1902, ADD has been characterized by a poor ability to focus, deficient control of impulses and hyperactivity. Taking a maverick stance, Mat? doesn't believe it is purely a genetic condition, but rather one with a physiological component linked to culture and environment. He contends that it can stem from a variety of ordinary sourcesAfrom stress to marital woes, from school and peer pressures to substance abuseAcausing serious problems in academic achievement, employment and relationships. In chapters that include his patients' commentaries on the impact of ADD on their lives, Mat? discusses its symptoms, ADD in the classroom and effective ways parents can handle and treat the unruly behavior of children with the disorder. In the closing pages of this well-documented but sure-to-be-controversial book, he effectively hammers home his suspicions about the possible over-prescription of Ritalin and other drugs to control rather than heal children, and proposes that, in some cases, emotional support, patience and love can be more powerful remedies than chemicals.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Among the recent epidemic of books on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), this one is valuable for its stress on environmental issues and the author's experience with the syndrome in his own family. Though a physician himself as well as a columnist for Canadian newspapers, Mat? dismisses the "medical model" of ADD, arguing that it is the combined result of genes and stressed parenting. Neurological deficits intervene in this process. Drug therapy is viewed as useful but no panacea for what is essentially a problem of society and human development. Well-written explanations and descriptive case studies fill the book, and guiding principles and suggestions for reversing the course of ADD through therapy make it useful for parents, stricken adults, and counselors alike. Focusing on parents as the cause of psychological disorders is not a new idea, though, and Timothy Wilens's Straight Talk About Psychiatric Medications for Kids (LJ 2/15/99) may be more practical in a society where drug therapy is ubiquitous. For public libraries with comprehensive ADD collections.AAntoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525944125
• ISBN 13: 9780525944126
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304